Hello, I am pretty new to the site, been an observer for awhile but never a member until recently. I really enjoy making stories, been wanting to make a fan game for awhile but after 2 years of trying to get it going I realized I don't have the time or know how to get it off the ground, so.. I thought why not tell a few stories here? Couldn't hurt right ? The story I am going to tell here was gonna serve as the back story of a few major characters in the game I wanted to make, but since there's no game I chose just to tell their full story. So instead of meeting this group of characters who've already had their adventures, I'm gonna start fresh from their beginnings up to the point where they would have been in the game. I hope you all will enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing it. Feedback and discussion are more than welcomed here, enjoy!

PROLOGUE - PRESENT DAY

The morning air was crisp and cold, a typical Keone Region morning, as Cole, made his way from his home on the Bronson Ridge to the town of Devonshire. The Bronson Ridge was just on the outskirts of Devonshire so the commute was simple enough. Originally from Orre, it took some time to get used to Keone's colder and damper climate. He looked at his old pocket watch, an old family heirloom that works just as good now as the day it was made nearly 80 years ago,as he made it into town. "I'm going to be almost an hour early", he said to himself, but he was fine with that, today was a day that punctuality was important, he just hoped the others would feel the same and not show up late. He made it to newly built Lab where the meeting would take place and waited for the others in the office area. One by one, the others showed up and took their seats at the table. Today was a day Cole and the others were meeting with a representative of the Pokemon League, after months of inquiry, the League finally approved to open a League in Keone, a dream Cole had since he arrived in Keone almost 5 years ago.

To the right of Cole sat Max, a young man with messy blonde hair, bright green eyes , his cousin and oldest friend and also the owner of the research Lab they were at right now, he and Max had put alot of miles behind them since they were kids, ever since they became trainers they traveled together, being apart only for the time Max had left to study under some of the most renowned Professors in the world, his father was the scientist who founded Thornton Industries, a company that specialized in making gadgets and tools for traveling trainers, most notably the Compact Pokemon Storage Device, or CPSD, a portable device used to access a trainer's pokemon storage boxes anywhere on the road without needing access to the PC. Despite his father's pleas to take over the company, he choose to follow his dream and become a Pokemon Professor, specializing in fossils and archeology. While his passion and focus is on his research, he is still one of the toughest trainers around. Cole always believed that if Max put as much effort into training and battling as he did into his research, he would be the stronger of the two and not the other way around.

The next chair sat Alex, Hoenn born, Orre raised, Max's fiance and longtime friend to the Thornton boys, next to Max, Cole considered her his closest friend, Alex was about 2 years older than Cole, and she was one of the trainers who finally convinced Cole's strict grandparents to let him start his Pokemon journey,even though they met when her Mightyena broke his grandparent's window. He has always been grateful to her for that. Because of her experience she also served as mentor type to Cole in the beginning.

Then there was Ray, the martial artist and fighting type specialist, Cole's first rival, when they first met they were anything but friends, growing up in Pyrite Town, Ray certainly had rough edges and back then he was a handful of trouble. When he considers how close they are now he sometimes forgets how much they hated each other at first. His longtime dream was to be world's best fighting type master, and these days there aren't many fighting type specialists that hasn't heard Ray's name.

To the right of Ray was Ricardo, tanned skinned, long black straight hair tied in a pony tail in the back, cold, calm and collected, the oldest and most experienced out of the group, quite of a legend in Orre as being the only undefeated trainer in Mt. Battle, the Colosseums, the Battle Tower, and Eagun's Orre Colosseum. He has participated in all of them multiple times and has never lost one battle in them. Ricardo was Cole's biggest motivation, he idolized him when he was a kid and had always aspired to defeat him one day and break his streak at the Colosseum, Cole was able to defeat him for the first time recently, however it wasn't at the Colosseum like he had always hoped for, even though he won the last battle, he still considers Ricardo the stronger of the group here.

Finally there was Eleanor of House Glovern, one of the oldest and most prominent clans in the Keone Region, descended from the last King of Keone, House Glovern is still considered as Keone's leaders, even now , generations after the Monarchy ended. Eleanor was the second oldest of 4 children, and the second strongest trainer in her family, surpassed only by her older brother Alistair, who Cole believes is the strongest trainer alive now, after all what other trainer has tamed and trained multiple legendary Pokemon? Not many. Eleanor was from a prestigious family, but more importantly, Cole thought, she was his wife. Despite protests from her father for marrying a non-Keone native, they were married almost 5 years ago after the conflict with the dangerous House Argyle and their followers, a series of conflicts that Cole and the others helped out in. The plans of House Argyle were quickly thwarted once Alistair defeated and imprisoned Bellistan Argyle, the head of House Argyle. Argyle and their followers have been quiet for a few years now,but there have been rumours and mumblings that the younger sons of Bellistan have been secretly plotting to break their father out so they can finish what they started years ago. Eleanor feared the disappearance of Alistair has embolden Argyle's followers to start trouble again, after all Alistair was their biggest threat and with him gone their chances to get what they want increased, they just needed their leader back. Eleanor was determined to keep Keone safe and Cole was more than willing to back her up.

The silence was broken when the office door slid opened. A middle aged woman with a Delcatty trotting beside her entered the room with an arm full of papers and set them on the table.
"I see everyone is here, perfect. shall we get started?", she said setting down.
"Alright so the League has approved funding for 9 official League buildings 8 of which will be gyms, the other will serve as an HQ and challenge hall for the official Keone Pokemon League, the funding is going to be a bit smaller due to the distance and remoteness of Keone so please try to build your gyms as simple as possible. Cole Thornton and Max Thornton, will be co-managers of the Keone League, meaning you both will have authority to hire and fire gym leaders, register trainers, and will be managing costs of League business, Cole you have chosen your Elite Four?"
Cole sat up straight "Eleanor, Alex, Ray, and Ricardo will serve as Keone's Elite Four, with myself as current champion, we held a tournament between us to decide who'd be champion"
The woman looked over the room, "You know it's customary for Elite Four members to be mono-type Gym Leaders first, and according to my records only Ray has ever held a Gym leader title."
"Trust me," Cole said, "I assure you they are more than qualified."

The meeting took over an hour and everyone was glad it was over, Ricardo left as soon as it ended to go...wherever it is he runs off to, while everyone else went to Cole and Eleanor's house to celebrate the official beginning of the Keone League. Cole walked in his spare room and looked around,he was always a sentimental guy and this room was proof, tables and shelves filled with what most people considered junk, but he saw as memories. His eyes wandered to the back wall where an old,small and worn out grey and black cap with a vest equally worn out hung , it was the cap and vest he wore on day one of his journey. He reached in the inside pocket of the vest and pulled out an old shard of glass that was wrapped in a faded piece of cloth, and just looked it over for a minute " Where has the time gone?" he said to himself. It seems like it wasn't that long ago he'd argue with his grandparents every night to let him start his journey, and now here he stands, the champion and manager of a Pokemon League he helped create, he almost couldn't believe it, and to think...it all started with a broken window....